Randomly start wars just to keep them occupied with something?
I'm pretty sure that those people are actually very rare and that most people that join the military do it because of patriotism and propaganda.
Most soldiers probably don't know what they will be facing and how it will affect them in a negative way, which would explain the high suicide rate.
The military doesn’t commit suicide at a significantly higher rate than the general population.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/02/02/but-there...
fit2rule: "when you are in the business of killing, murdering, maiming other human beings, you're no longer really part of society"
Soldiering sometimes requires killing. So soldiers are no longer part of society? What about the executive branch of our government (which issues the orders to soldiers)?
fit2rule: "we in the 'normal' society don't have a clue what those in the 'murdering business society' really think about us"..."This is a contagious disease, not some 'normality' about human existence..."
Murderous thoughts run through the minds of people everyday. They don't usually act on them but they are there. It's part of our nature: we've always done it. Here's a famous quote:
"I am a man: I hold that nothing human is alien to me." - Terence
For a history of killing and how the responsibility has shifted from the individual to the government:
"Why They Kill: The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist" by Richard Rhodes.
fit2rule: "the 'official killers' really don't care about human life"
Categorical nonsense. People love their spouses, children, family and friends. Soldiers are people as are Presidents. Even psychopaths love and protect their children (usually). All will protect the ones they love from those who they fear will cause harm.
fit2rule: "if you get up in the morning with the intention of taking a human life, if ordered to do so, then you no longer belong to the human race." ..."Anyone who claims to have the right to kill others - for any reason whatsoever - should be treated by greater society as anti-human"... "anyone whose job it is to murder, maim, kill - officially, with sanction from the state - and who chooses to do this as a career is a very, very sick individual."
You're out on a limb here- this is simply a rhetorical blast. I fail to see how being a killer makes you inhuman. I don't know how you would treat someone as "anti-human" - possibly kill them?!8-\
Every villager killed is a missed opportunity to educate, enlighten, and liberate - both parties.
The point is this: there isn't enough evidence to support killing, and more than sufficient evidence to support not killing. Yet, it still happens - and the reason why is, the people have not woken up to the fact that they are responsible for the actions of their State, and that they do deserve whatever comes to them when they let their State murder, maim, kill.
I would say "Intelligence." There's an abundance of life on Earth but not much intelligence.
fit2rule: "The point is this: there isn't enough evidence to support killing..."
There often is. If someone has wantonly killed before, (s)he'll do it again. One can allow them to continue or stop the activity. I have little to no mercy for someone intent on homicide. Such people are not usually willing to sit down and talk their problems through.
fit2rule: "...the people have not woken up to the fact that they are responsible for the actions of their State, and that they do deserve whatever comes to them when they let their State murder, maim, kill."
Until now I didn't realize that you were laying out a justification for terrorists, jihadis et al to strike against nation-states. Thank you for that clarification.
The moment you remove that choice - either personally or socially - you become an animal, again.
Genetic traits? Well, we've overcome them before, with our free will - we'll do it again. We had lots of genetic traits that predetermined our inability to live on the Moon - but we soon decided that wasn't going to get in our way. Why can't we do the same thing with War?
Because viewpoints such as yours are contagious diseases which fester in the mind of Mankind, and very few are ever prepared to cure themselves of it.
Way to take an even-handed comment like mine stating facts with minimal value judgements and attempt to turn it into fuel for your idealogical steamroller. The only problem is you didn't really read and comprehend what I said.
What does such an organization look like, and how does it work?
It's very easy to say that we should just stop killing people and instead make peace. It's extremely difficult to put forth a realistic plan that accomplishes that.
Yes, I'm not sure I know what it would look like, but I'm pretty sure that its possible to develop the "B1 bomber" of education systems. I'm quite sure that the technology being used to deliver death from the skies can instead be used to improve the agricultural requirements of the average Afghani village. Heck, even an AK47 can be turned into a water pump, given the right intentions ..
While I agree with the sentiment, I disagree with talking about it as if it were something you could just decide to do one day, and then it would get done.
I would love to see more effort put into making peace. But making peace isn't simply a matter of declaring that you will "make peace, not war".
Yes it is. Because the same is true of war: you have to decide to do it. The problem is, the American people have subjugated all their decision-making responsibilities to people who are too lazy, stupid, or just plain evil to think that anything other than non-stop war is their solution. This has been the case in America for 80 years now - so its a generational thing as well, at this point..
Well, I supposed you are just calling every American government employe lazy, evil and stupid. You have just insulted millions of Americans. I am sure there are lazy and evil people out there, but your view is extreme, to the point you don't even know how to deal with reality. There are hardworking people. I don't know what people do in the government because I am never a government employee. Do you happen to know? Where did you get the impression that these top officials are all evil? Based on what? Selective events and newspaper reporting? Maybe there are nice top-ranked people tried to stop the war but others overpower him in the decision making process. Some biography says some X president is not stupid, that that former president was in fact very hardworking and very smart. How do you or me know whether that's the case or not. Can newspaper mislead us? Can popular gossip and stories mislead us to think that all the higher up officials are bad and evil?
We have to respect democracy. To remind you, this is a democratic republic. We elect people to represent us. I am sure there are some lazy stupid congressmen who don't care about voters until 6 months before election. I am also sure there are people who want to change the system. Also, people can become lazy after seeing how little they could do, so they either gave up and don't care, or kept on compromising and couldn't deliver his dreams.
> This has been the case in America for 80 years now - so its a generational thing as well, at this point..
No. It has always been that way. Why didn't we end slavery early? Why didn't we end racial segregation 200 years ago? See, my point is proved: it didn't happen just 80 years ago.
Things changed and evolved as time continues to roll.
So is succeeding at war, of course. But we're not talking with anyone who simply advocates "war" as a solution.
Why should resolving to make peace not war require more thoughtfulness than waging war?
Honorable and effective are not the same.
Seriously, the problem is hardly farming. The world has thousands of years of farming development, and Afghanistan has been farmed for just as long. Nor is the problem education systems. The problem is political, and I fail to see how we can drop K-12 educations on people who aren't allowed to or are unwilling to learn.
But, of course, you appear to be a flower hippie pretty dead-set in your ways, so I don't really hope to change your mind. You keep working on that B2 Tulip Bomber- I'm sure if we can only manage to bomb Afghanistan with flowers & love, world peace will be immediately achieved.
The problem is, and always has been: education. What sort of education gets delivered to the village when the US maims half its children, kills its elders, and terrorizes its mothers?
Fact: Women are killed in the USA, too. Fact: the USA has its share of militant religious fanatics, too. Are we going to bomb the USA because of this fact?
If you can't trust what anyone tells you about foreign events, it's too late. The voting public does not have time to travel to Yemen, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, China, and every other country on the globe to develop personally informed opinions.
Fact: Women are killed in the USA, too
For attending school?
The improvements would very likely violate Taliban law and the improved children and their parents would be targeted for accepting the improvements.
Humans do not work the way you think they do.